The present invention relates in general to subscriber services and features within a telecommunications network. More particularly, the present invention relates to multiple subscriber services and features associated with one trigger within such a network.
With developments and improvements in telecommunications networks, telephone companies offer user-specific subscriber services to subscribers. Subscriber services include, for example, a calling line ID service that allows a subscriber to see the number of the caller, and perhaps his name; call forwarding variable where all or selected incoming calls are directly forwarded to a predefined forward-to-number; call forwarding busy where all or selected incoming calls toward a busy called party subscriber are forwarded to a predefined forward-to number; or anonymous call rejection where an incoming call connection to the subscriber is denied if the caller refuses to provide his calling line ID. Other subscriber services include privacy director which allows subscribers to screen calls by intercepting all calls with the calling party number marked as private or out of area, and requires the unidentified parties to either unblock their caller ID or to record their names before their calls are completed to the subscriber, and internet call waiting which allows internet users to receive notification of incoming calls on their PC screen during an active internet session.
In conventional telecommunications systems, each subscriber service is associated with a unique trigger. In other words, the telecommunications systems only support a single service per trigger. Because there are a limited number of triggers, the number of services that a subscriber can subscribe to is limited. This is particularly relevant if the subscriber wishes to subscribe to more services than there are triggers. In this case, the subscriber will not be able to obtain the desired functionality. Therefore, a need exists for a system and method that allows for multiple services per trigger.
The present invention is directed to a system and method for providing a plurality of subscriber services associated with a trigger to a subscriber responsive to a call. The trigger is received at a central office associated with the subscriber, and a query mediator determines a priority for each subscriber service. The subscriber services are stored in a service control point. The subscriber service having the highest priority is executed.
According to further aspects of the invention, the remaining subscriber services are executed in order of priority. If the executed subscriber service has disposed of the call, the remainder of the subscriber services are terminated.
According to other aspects of the invention, upon receiving a trigger query, the query mediator determines which subscriber services are activated by the subscriber, and then determines a priority for each of the active subscriber services.
The foregoing and other aspects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.